O'Neill Admits He Might Play Gareth Barry

Good grief, it really is a slow news day, not even any decent press links! The papers are full of the reports from over the weekend that Villa are set to make an audacious bid for Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole.

Other than that, the only other snippet is Martin O'Neill admitting that he might well bring the Gareth Barry saga to an end by using him in the Uefa Cup game this Thursday.

Obviously if Barry does play in the UEFA Cup qualifier against FH Hafnarfjordur he will then be cup tied and unable to feature for Liverpool or any other club for that matter in the Champions League.

The Villa manager told the official site: 'He's our player and though things could change, if Gareth is still our player on Wednesday morning, he's as good a chance of climbing on the bus as anybody.'

He is available and should be selected. The only time it will become an issue is if he refuses to play. If that is the case we simply withold his wages. Unfortunately if you and I did that we would be sacked but in the day and age of the overpayed and spoilt modern footballer, this is not a viable option.

liverpool have effectively said they don't rate him , because they wont stump the cash up for him , he is still under contract and if required to play , he has to play ! If he refuses to play though we are in a tough tough situation , his value plummets and he would be flogged off by martin as quick as you like and we would be the only losers.